Free Lessons on the Bill of Rights!

Age Range: 10-18 (Middle School and High School, with parental supervision)

This website delivers free lessons to help boost students’ knowledge of their constitutional rights and America’s founding principles. The lessons are delivered to your inbox in a free e-newsletter called, The Constitution Courier. Each lesson includes historical content, connections to real life, classroom activities, downloadable PDFs, discussion questions, and suggestions for further reading.

When you get to the site you’ll see a description of the free lessons available and information on how to sign up to get them (simply enter your email address). The lessons cover a wide range of topics including:

*Being an American – Get lessons on The Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the U.S. Bill of Rights.

*Current Events and the Constitution – Get a framework for discussing current events in context with history. Each month, students analyze how the Constitution applies to a specific issue or event on the local, state, or national level.

*Bill of Rights In The News – Focuses on issues making headlines that directly relate to the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. It provides current online news articles, discussion questions, and related links and resources.

*The Constitution and Religious Freedom – Explores the history and importance of religious liberty in the United States from the colonies to today. Focuses on historic individuals, landmark Supreme Court cases, student rights, and current issues related to this First Amendment protection.

*Election Resources – Learn about issues discussed during elections, with a focus on the First Amendment freedoms of speech and press.

*Presidents and the Constitution – Find out about the roles of the President including Commander in Chief and Chief Executive Officer, and how the President responds to the office as it pertains to the Constitution.

When you are through signing up to get these terrific resources, explore the rest of the site. You’ll find free lessons from past newsletters in the archives that are designed to educate young people about the words and ideas of America’s Founders, the liberties guaranteed in our Founding documents, and how our Founding principles continue to affect and shape a free society.

This is a great way to implement the advice issued by President John Adams in 1789: “Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom.”